Zig-zagging Ziggy

The new dog in town is fabulous. Ziggy's family had to give him up, same as Missy's. He's got a great level temperament, whizzes around with no problem for such a little guy (12 lbs and getting smaller!) Our goal is 9 lbs for him, I think. 8 might be svelte, but he's got so much muscle under the padding that he's gonna look great. Ziggy's hair is growing in on his head. Pretty soon he'll look like a poodle! His ears are clipped and dematted, too. We're on our second round of ear mite cure, so hopefully by the end of the week, those will be gone.

He and Missy get along very well. She mostly ignores him, but I've noticed that if he leaves the room, she follows. They share a bed at night without any problem at all.

Our game of the day before supper was fetch. Ziggy's getting better at bringing stuff back and releasing it, but he has such a hard time letting go... he'll do the poodle-jerk, bouncing his head to dislodge my grip. I have to hang on tightly: I'm Top Dog after all, so I need to win most of the tugs!

Today I tossed the stuffed toys out the door, into the woods, into flower beds, etc. and Ziggy rooted them out and brought them back. Missy just watched. I'm resigned to her not playing along. Don't know if she still misses our first rescue, Spike. He's happily with another family who doesn't mind his intense energy and occasional house-training mishaps. I'm glad that walks are an option rather than a poop-necessity, like they were for Spike. If I didn't get him walking first thing in the morning, he'd do his job in the house. Sigh. Never could break him of it, and it got us out the door every day, very early.

Ziggy and Missy are more laid back. They have no accidents in the house, but wait until we can go for a walk at 8 a.m. or so. We love our walks; today we included a run in the park off-leash, and that made both dogs happy.

Ziggy is finally eating raw food. If I'm introducing something new (pork chops yesterday), he wants to taste it after it's been seared first. After the initial bites, he's fine. He's chomping down on bones, too. Wow, what a difference in his breath! With good kibble, his breath stank so badly that we could smell him from the front door when I walked in  at 7:30a after exercise class. Now, his mouth smells as sweet as Missy's. Yay for BARF or raw diets.

Missy and Ziggy have great energy, are content, and we have a great pair! Good doggies.